{{Short description|Jazz club in New York City}}{{About|the New York City jazz club|other uses of Jimmy Ryan|Jimmy Ryan (disambiguation){{!}}Jimmy Ryan}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox venue | name = Jimmy Ryan's | image = {{Easy CSS image crop|Image=52nd Street, New York, by Gottlieb, 1948 crop.jpg|desired_width=250|crop_left_perc=0|crop_right_perc=70|crop_top_perc=10|crop_bottom_perc=0|align=center}} | image_caption = Jimmy Ryan's marquee at night, alongside its neighbors. Looking east from Sixth Avenue towards 52nd Street, {{circa}} May 1948 | address = {{idp| *53 West 52nd Street<br>(1934–1962) *154 West 54th Street<br>(1962–1983) }} | city = New York City | country = United States | location = | coordinates = {{Coord|40|45|47|N|73|58|50|W|type:landmark_region:US-NY}} | owner = Matthew C. Walsh, Jimmy Ryan | type = Jazz club | demolished = 1962 (53 West 52nd Street) | years_active = {{idp| *1934–1962<br>(53 West 52nd Street) *1962–1983<br>(154 West 54th Street) }} }} '''Jimmy Ryan's''' was a jazz club in New York City, located at 53 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, from 1934 to 1962, and 154 West 54th Street from 1962 to 1983.<ref>John S. Wilson, "Jimmy Ryan's, A Shrine to the Same Old Jazz", ''The New York Times'', September 24, 1976</ref> It was a venue for performances of Dixieland jazz.<ref name="Clayton & Gammond">''Jazz A-Z'', by Peter Clayton & Peter Gammond, Guinness Books (Guinness Superlatives Ltd.) (1986); {{OCLC|15353474|76750957}}.</ref>
== History == The location on 52nd Street, Manhattan, New York City, was one of a row of brownstones with clubs operating in basements. As the last surviving jazz club on 52nd Street, its brownstone – along with all the other brownstones on the north side of the street – were demolished in 1962 to make way for construction of the new CBS Building. CBS had given Jimmy Ryan $9,000 to relocate.<ref>Bill Crow, ''Jazz Anecdotes: Second Time Around'', p. 116, Oxford University Press (2005) {{OCLC|224377631|775055946}} {{ISBN|0195187954}} {{ISBN|9780195187953}}</ref><ref>Arnold Shaw, ''52nd Street, The Street of Jazz'', p. 242, Da Capo Press (1977, 1983) {{OCLC|468129109|3002082|470090841}} {{OCLC|462372683}} {{ISBN|0306800683}} {{ISBN|9780306800689}}</ref>
The club was owned by partners Matthew C. (Matty) Walsh (1914–2006) and Jimmy Ryan (1911–1963). Walsh, Ryan's brother-in-law, continued ownership following Ryan's death in July 1963 at the French Hospital. Gilbert J. Pincus (1907–1980) – who served as doorman from 1942 to 1962 at the original location and from about 1963 until his death in 1980 – became known as the "Mayor of 52nd Street".<ref>John S. Wilson, "Gilbert J. Pincus, 73, Jazz Club Doorman and Mayor of 52nd Street," ''The New York Times'', February 7, 1980</ref><ref>''Biography Index, A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 12: September 1979 – August 1982'', H.W. Wilson Co., New York (1983) {{OCLC|83009305|50355220|183279994}}</ref><ref>Arnold Shaw, ''The Street That Never Slept, New York's Fabled 52d St.'' McCann & Geoghegan, New York (1971) {{OCLC|205864}}.</ref>
== Jazz style == During the 1940s, three New York nightclubs stood out as centers for traditional style jazz: Jimmy Ryan's, Nick's in Greenwich Village, and Eddie Condon's, just a few blocks away.<ref>William P. Gottlieb, ''The Golden Age of Jazz'', p. 13, Pomegranate Communications, Inc. (1995).</ref>
== Performing artists == '''Resident musicians in the 1940s''' {{div col|colwidth=25em}} * Mezz Mezzrow (1943) * James P. Johnson (1943) * Art Hodes (1945–1949) * J. C. Higginbotham (1946) * Henry "Red" Allen (1946) * Sidney De Paris (1947–1957) * Sidney Bechet (1948) * Max Kaminsky (1948–1949) * Wilbur De Paris (1951–1962) * Zutty Singleton (1963–1970) * Roy Eldridge (1970–1980) {{div col end}} '''Musicians of the Sunday jam sessions, organized and managed by Milt Gabler''' {{div col|colwidth=25em}} * Sidney Bechet * Pops Foster * Hot Lips Page * Pee Wee Russell * Eddie Condon * Mezz Mezzrow * Kaiser Marshall * Hank Duncan * Sandy Williams * Brad Gowans * Ben Webster * Chu Berry * Coleman Hawkins * Wildcats {{div col end}}
== Songs and albums related to the club ==
* Tony Parenti and his Dean's of Dixieland: ** ''A Night at Jimmy Ryan's'' (Jazzology, 1967) with Max Kaminsky, Conrad Janis, Davis Quinn, Joe Henshaw, and Zutty Singleton *** "Down at Jimmy Ryan's", a renamed version of Theodore Morse and Edward Madden's "Down in Jungletown" *** "Blues for Jimmy Ryan" * ''Live at Jimmy's'', a complete album recorded live there by Maynard Ferguson in 1973
== References == {{Reflist|30em}} {{Commons category|Jimmy Ryan’s (jazz club)}}
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{{Coord|40|45|47|N|73|58|50|W|type:landmark_region:US-NY|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jimmy Ryan's (jazz club)}} Category:Defunct drinking establishments in Manhattan Category:Defunct jazz clubs in New York City Category:Defunct restaurants in Manhattan Category:Nightlife in New York City Category:Restaurants disestablished in 1983 Category:Restaurants established in 1938